Commentary: The Federal Government is Deciding Who Can Start a Small Business

Business Owner

Just when it seemed impossible for things to get tougher for small businesses, the federal government decided to make things worse.

Small businesses have had a tough run for the last few years. Record inflation, high interest rates, and workforce shortages have led to widespread pessimism among small businesses. The last thing they need is more government interference, but that is exactly what is happening.

Read More

Free-Market Think Tank Backs Bill Lightening Occupational Licensure Burden, Urges Further Reform

In the view of an Ohio conservative think tank, the Buckeye State should enact a bill the House passed, and the Senate is now considering to pare back licensure burdens for many professionals. 

Greg R. Lawson, a research fellow at the Columbus-based Buckeye Institute, testified this week before the Ohio Senate Workforce and Higher Education Committee in favor of the bill. He added he believes the state should pursue further reform even after the legislation passes the Senate and receives Governor Mike DeWine’s signature. 

Read More

Republican Ohio Lawmakers Unveil New Website for Regulatory Transparency

Two Ohio Republican state lawmakers on Tuesday unveiled the new Cut Red Tape Ohio website, which they say will serve to make the state’s regulatory process more transparent. 

The site, developed in consultation with business leaders and the legislature’s Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review (JCARR), came about via Senate Bill 9 which instructs state agencies to end three of every 10 state regulations over the next three years. State Senator Theresa Gavarone (R-Bowling Green) and state Representative Jamie Callender (R-Concord), respectively chair and vice chair of JCARR, announced the site’s arrival online. 

Read More

Ohio Group Joins Fight Against California’s Livestock Regulations

An Ohio group joined the fight against a California proposition that it believes imposes illegal regulations on the pork industry across the country.

The Buckeye Institute, a Columbus-based policy group, filed an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court recently in a case filed by the National Pork Producers Council that challenges California’s Proposition 12, saying it violates the Constitution’s Commerce Clause, which restricts states from regulating commerce outside their borders.

Read More

Supreme Court Hands Union Loss in California Trespass Case

The Supreme Court has ruled that a California regulation allowing union organizers to trespass on private property to recruit agricultural workers violated private property rights.

In Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid released Wednesday, California agriculture businesses Cedar Point Nursery and Fowler Packing Company challenged a state law allowing labor unions a “right to take access” to an agricultural employer’s private property three hours per day, 120 days per year to recruit new union members. The court held that this constitutes a “per se” taking. They reversed and remanded prior rulings on California’s access regulation with a 6-3 vote, the dissenting votes belonging to the court’s three left-leaning justices. 

In 2015, union organizers entered Cedar Point Nursery at 5 a.m., disrupting work during harvest season with bullhorns to convince the farm employees to join the United Farm Workers (UFW) union. Mike Fahner, the owner of the strawberry farm, did not grant the union workers permission to enter his property, nor was he given notice of their arrival. He was not legally allowed to ask the union organizers to leave his property. 

Read More

Former Ohio Congressman, Jim Renacci Joins Leahy to Discuss Ohio as a Battleground State for Election 2020

During a live recording on Friday’s Battleground State Report – a one-hour radio show from Star News Digital Media in the early stages of national weekend syndication roll out – host Leahy was joined on the line by Jim Renacci former (R) U.S. Representative for Ohio’s 16th district in 2011-2019.

During the show, Renacci weighed in on how he saw Ohio moving in the direction for the 2020 Presidential election predicting at this time voters would again side with Trump. However, he did mention that politics is a 30-40 day cycle where things could change. Renacci added that the policies embedded in Ohio’s politics were not the President’s politics making things difficult for citizens by holding high taxes and heavy regulation on businesses.

Read More

Medicinal Marijuana’s High Price Tag Could be Trouble for Ohio

January 16th was the first official day of medicinal marijuana sales in Ohio. The four currently-operating dispensaries sold a combined total volume of 8.7 pounds of marijuana for $75,000 – or roughly $500 an ounce. This is more than five times the illegal market value. While states like Michigan and…

Read More

Just Facts Think Tank President: The True Effects of Regulations on the Economy

by James D. Agresti   In a New York Times article about President Trump scaling back regulations, reporters Binyamin Appelbaum and Jim Tankersley report “there is little historical evidence tying regulation levels to” economic growth. They support this sweeping claim only with a quote from Jared Bernstein, a former chief economic adviser to…

Read More